


The Swarm

by JJJunky



Category: Star Trek: Voyager
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-08-18
Updated: 2012-08-18
Packaged: 2017-11-12 10:06:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 660
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/489674
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JJJunky/pseuds/JJJunky
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Missing scene for 'The Swarm'</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Swarm

The Swarm  
By JJJunky

 

"Tom?"

Not so long ago, Kes' soft voice would've filled Tom Paris with longing. Now, all he felt was resignation. Her presence at a time when he was just regaining consciousness meant he was in Sickbay - again. Before responding to the gentle urging, he took a quick inventory of his condition. Other than a slight headache, he seemed to be fine.

"Wake-up, Tom."

Hoping he wouldn't regret the action, Paris cautiously opened his eyes. Encouraged when he experienced no additional pain, he looked around. As he'd already suspected, he was in sickbay.

"How do you feel?" Kes asked, a timid smile on her face.

"Like I should give up my quarters and move in here on a permanent basis," Paris disgustedly replied. "What happened this time?"

Kes frowned, "You don't remember?"

"Nope," Paris started to shake his head, but a slight twinge in his right temple changed his mind. "The last thing I remember is choking down Neelix's leola root stew."

"That was dinner last night," Kes bit her lip in concern. "This morning, you and B'Elanna took out a shuttlecraft and were attacked."

"I remember," Paris excitedly sat up. A wave of dizziness swept over him making him regret the impulsive move. "Two aliens beamed onto the ship. When I tried to make contact, they chirped something, then shot us." Worry darkened the blue of his eyes as he frantically glanced around the sickbay, "Where's B'Elanna?"

"She's fine," Kes soothed, putting a hand on his arm to restrain him. "She's back on duty."

"How come I'm not?" Paris demanded a petulant look on his face.

"You will be. The aliens used a neural electric weapon on you. It affected your nervous system more severely than it did B'Elanna's."

"Apparently that's another area where Klingons are superior to humans," Paris grumbled, reluctantly stretching out on the bed.

Kes smiled, "You'll only be here a few more hours. I want to be sure you've fully recovered from the operation before I released you for duty."

"You want to be sure," Paris emphasized. "Where's the Doc?"

"Holodeck two."

"Oh, great. I could be laying here dying and he's off singing arias with Maria Callas."

"He is not," Kes indignantly retorted. "They're trying to fix his programming."

Paris suspiciously regarded the young Ocampa, "What's wrong with the Doc's programming?"

"His circuits are degrading," Kes reluctantly admitted, her normal calm deserting her under the intense blue gaze. "He's heading for a cascade failure."

Digesting the information with lightening speed, Tom asked, "When exactly did his circuits start to degrade?"

Kes dropped her eyes.

"Please tell me it wasn't while he was poking around inside my brain with a laser scalpel," Paris pleaded, a look of horror on his face.

"I wasn't his fault."

"Oh God! It was while he was inside my head with a laser scalpel."

"The worst of the failure didn't occur until the operation was almost over."

"That's a comfort. Only half of my brain was in jeopardy."

"Tom, you're perfectly fine."

"How do I know that?" Paris cried, a pensive shimmer in the shadow of his eyes. "Would half my brain know the other half's been destroyed? Next time I try to brush my teeth, will I brush my hair instead?"

Her lips trembling with the need to smile, Kes shook her head, "The diagnostics would tell me if something had gone wrong."

"What does a machine know about personality?" His voice drifted into a hushed whisper, "I may not be me anymore and I wouldn't even know it."

"I'd know," Kes soothed, laying a hand on his arm.

"Of course, knowing wouldn't dome a lot of good. It wouldn't bring back what I've lost."

Almost screaming in her frustration, Kes repeated, "You're fine!"

"I guess I'm going to have to learn to live with my limitations," Paris sighed, closing his eyes.

"Maybe there was brain damage after all," Kes decided, her lips puckered with annoyance.


End file.
